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Kevin McCarthy abruptly quits speaker race, leaving Republicans in disarray

Paul Singer
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — House Republicans will gather Friday morning to begin figuring out who, if anybody, is in charge.

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy answers a question during a news conference on Capitol Hill on Oct. 8, 2015, after stepping down as a nominee for House speaker to replace John Boehner.

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy shocked his colleagues Thursday by abruptly dropping out of the race for speaker at the beginning of a meeting that by all accounts was prepared to nominate him for the job. That left the party with no obvious front-runner, except Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who has said several times he is not going to run.

McCarthy met with colleagues at an early morning forum and made his case to become the next speaker, but then announced at the noon nominating gathering that he was dropping out. "I just think it's best to have a new face," he told reporters afterward. Many conservatives who have chafed under Boehner's leadership had expressed support for other candidates, and it was clear McCarthy would not get the 218 votes he needed Thursday to guarantee he would win a vote for speaker on the House floor, which had been set for Oct. 29.

"Over the last week it has become clear to me that our Conference is deeply divided and needs to unite behind one leader," McCarthy, R-Calif., said in a statement released by his office. "I have always put this Conference ahead of myself. Therefore I am withdrawing my candidacy for Speaker of the House. I look forward to working alongside my colleagues to help move our Conference’s agenda and our country forward."

With McCarthy out, it was unclear where Republicans would turn for a new leader after Boehner departs. Republicans of all stripes have said in recent weeks that Ryan, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, would be able to unify the fractured party. But Ryan was backing McCarthy and on Thursday again said he would not run for the post.

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In a statement, Ryan called McCarthy the "best person to lead the House" and expressed his disappointment in the day's news. He said it was time for the party to "seek new candidates for the speakership," adding "While I am grateful for the encouragement I’ve received, I will not be a candidate."

But late in the day, colleagues were pressing him to reconsider. "Most of the members know that that's really our only path forward at this point," said Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., considered a close ally of Boehner's. The job requires a lot of institutional knowledge and credibility, Nunes said, and "really from the start of this, Kevin and Paul were the only two we had of that caliber."

Boehner said in a statement that he will stay on until he is replaced, and appeared to call off the Oct. 29 vote. "I will serve as Speaker until the House votes to elect a new Speaker," he said. "We will announce the date for this election at a later date, and I’m confident we will elect a new Speaker in the coming weeks."

McCarthy is not stepping down as majority leader, which means that the scramble that had begun for his job and other top leadership positions is now on hold as well. Boehner had said previously that the party would not select other top leaders until after the speaker vote was over.

Conservatives, led by members of the House Freedom Caucus, are demanding rules changes that will reduce the speaker's authority and allow more conservative amendments to come to the floor for a vote. But Nunes suggested other rules changes that would give the speaker more authority to punish Republicans who vote against leadership positions.

Freedom Caucus members agreed Wednesday to back Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla., for the nomination, in part to preserve their ability to negotiate with McCarthy for rules changes. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who jumped into the race on Sunday, said Thursday he was "shocked" by McCarthy's withdrawal but that he remains a candidate for the job.

"It's all wide open," said Freedom Caucus member Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan. "There's probably ten people that picked up ten votes" in the wake of McCarthy's departure.

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., who leads the House Republican campaign operation, said he would consider serving as interim speaker, but he wasn't sure that was a good idea — and Huelskamp said he would be unacceptable to conservatives. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, chair of the Republican Study Committee, a kind of conservative think tank in the House, said "I don't know that we can get a new speaker before Nov. 5." That is the date the Treasury Department says the nation will begin to default on debts unless Congress raises the debt limit. Flores said he expected Boehner to stay at least through that deadline.

House conservatives plan to vote against McCarthy for speaker

McCarthy's rise to the top post was hampered by his comments on Fox News last week suggesting that the House Select Committee on Benghazi was set up largely to damage Hillary Clinton's political fortunes. McCarthy has since apologized and said that was neither what he meant nor the intent of the committee, which was created to investigate the Sept 11, 2012, attack on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi. Conservatives reacted with outrage that McCarthy's comment was undermining the committee's work. McCarthy said those comments were part of the reason he was stepping down, because "I should not be a distraction" from the committee's work.

Conservative activists who railed against McCarthy reveled in his announcement. "We just proved that the grassroots can rise up and get things done," said Larry Ward, whose Constitutional Rights PAC  launched a "Fire McCarthy" website a week ago. "We started the conversation when nobody else would."

Congress is scheduled to be on recess next week.

Contributing: Deirdre Shesgreen

Follow @singernews on Twitter

More coverage of House leadership elections shakeup:

Speaker John Boehner surprised by Kevin McCarthy's withdrawal from race

Who will succeed Boehner? Possible speaker candidates

After McCarthy bombshell, Twitter speculates on the next House speaker

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